Handsome and the Beast
by Electronic-Star
Summary: For Agduna Week 2020, Day 5: AU


**A.N.** For Agduna Week 2020, Day 5: AU

**Handsome and the Beast**

Tonight's full moon again...A time that Iduna despised with every fiber of her being. Because since she was young she used to transform into a monster. A big wolf with no control. At least...that's how it looked when she saw her surroundings after waking up. There was always destruction.

It was actually even worse when she fell in love with someone. Well...not just someone, the king of Arendelle of all people. Her beast side somehow reacted to him. As in a possessive way. It was disgusting...

But she was glad that he never found out. Whenever it was 'time' she could always hide away in the woods. But once she was courting Agnarr and moved to the castle it was more difficult to do so. Actually, her and Agnarr's personal guard Mattias found out and after begging him not to tell anyone her secret was save again. It was even easier to hide then. They made sure Mattias would be the only one guarding the dungeons, so that ge could lock her away.

Over time they made sure that one cell was big and strong enough to keep her inside and now it was just a terrible habit...Iduna would always pretend to have work, so that Agnarr won't be worried that she's not coming to bed with him and when the sun set, she'd go down to the dungeons where Mattias is already waiting for her. "Mattias." She greeted him, while he bowed to her. "My lady." Iduna led the way to her cell, Mattias following close behind.

The man didn't spoke. He long ago learned that trying to make her tell Agnarr wasn't working. There's no way Agnarr should know that particular secret. Okay, there was still the secret with her being Northuldra, but that was easier to hide. If Agnarr ever found out she's a Northuldran monster...No, she didn't want to think about it.

"I'm counting on you, Mattias." She said, as she entered her cell. He only nodded, looking sad that she always did this to herself. And made him help. But there's no other way. Iduna heard the lock behind her click shut, and then Mattias locked the door twice. The first time she almost broke out...this can't happen again.

* * *

Agnarr knew that at this time of the month Iduna had lots of work to do. Why, he didn't know ad most if the time he was too tired himself to question her. Maybe she's just helping him with a few things? She always did. He made sure she had her own room in the castle. A place where she wished to be alone and do whatever she wanted.

He was pretty sure that she must be there, and so instead of going to bed, like she always told him to, he went to her room and see what she's doing there all alone.

When he knocked on the door, he didn't get an answer though. And as he peeked in, he realized why. She wasn't there. Confused that she wasn't here even thought she told him she had to work on something, he walked through the halls, hoping to fund her somewhere. But there was no trace of her.

"Gerda." The woman turned to him, trying to hide her tiredness. "Sorry, I know you wanna go to bed now, but do you know where Iduna is?" Gerda thought for a moment, while Agnarr tried to be patient.

"I think I saw her talking with Mattias." She answered thoughtfully and that's all he needed. "Okay. Thank you. Good night." He said, as he immediately went to the dungeons that he knew Mattias was guarding tonight.

Mattias was very confused to see Agnarr there when he approached him. "Destin!" The king called, as he ran to him.

"What are you doing here?" Asked the guard confused. Agnarr took a few deep breaths before talking. "Where's Iduna?"

Mattias looked conflicted, as if he thought about if he should tell him the truth or lie. "Don't lie to me. I'm really worried about her." But before he could say anything, Agnarr heard someone scream in the dungeon. And it sounded like Iduna! He intermediately pushed Mattias aside and ran down the stairs. "Iduna!"

"Agnarr, wait!" But he ignored the call of his guard and ran as fast as he could to the source of the screams. Then he realized it came from inside one of the cells. "Did you lock her in?!" He yelled at his guard, but before he could answer him, he snatched the keys from him and unlocked the door. "Wait!"

Again, Agnarr ignored him, pushing the door open and ran inside. There, Iduna lay on the floor, being in pain. Her clothes were neatly folded on the bed, though. What was going on here? At the noise Iduna looked up at him with despair in her eyes. "Leave! Go away!" She yelled at him, but he came closer to her, despite the panic growing in her eyes.

"I won't leave you. What's wrong with you? Why are you here?" Then he felt Mattias grabbing him from behind and tied to pull him out of the cell.

"You really shouldn't be here right now, Agnarr!" But Agnarr had absolutely none of that and fought him. There's no way he'd leave Iduna right now. She was obviously in pain and not to mention in the dungeons!

At this point Iduna was lying on the cold ground, squirming in pain and Mattias was still holding him back. "Destin, let me go right now!" He yelled at his guard, but then something caught his attention.

Iduna's body changed. Hair grew everywhere, her whole bone structure changed and she got a fluffy tail, too...And then a very big wolf was there instead of a woman. Both he and Mattias stared at the creature with wide eyes and then jumped when it opened its eyes.

The big wolf stood up slowly, staring at them the whole time. "Iduna...?" The wolf's ears wiggled when he said her name. Then it looked to the open door and then back at them. Agnarr and Mattias were frozen solid, not daring to move. The wolf went towards the door slowly, while both men inched away from it.

"Did you know about this?" Whispered Agnarr, even though the wolf could hear him anyway.

"Yes…She made me swear I never tell you. She was afraid how you'd react." Answered Mattias, still holding onto the king to protect him if needed.

The wolf —Iduna?— didn't go out of the room as they expected. She closed the door with her hind leg and crept towards them. "Iduna...?" Again, her ears wiggled in recognition. Once she was close enough she craned her neck to sniff them. First was Mattias and then the big, wet nose was on him, sniffing him.

Then she licked him. She seemed to recognize him. She nuzzled against him and he put his hands on her muzzle and patted her gently. Moving forward, she pushed Mattias aside, curled up around Agnarr and lay down. Iduna looked at him with the same blue eyes that he loved so much, silently asking him to sit with her. After glancing at Mattias, he sat down and got a big wolf's head on his lap.

He ran his fingers over her fluffy, brown fur and tracing the black stripe on her head and back. "We'll be fine Destin...You better go and make sure no one's getting lost in here..."

Luckily Mattias got the real message he's giving him —that he just wanted to be alone with her— and left the cell. "Call me if you need anything." He said, before closing the door behind him.

The wolf whined, looking at him with big, sad eyes. "Why didn't you tell me...?" Iduna looked away, but still made the sound. "Did you really think I'd love you less if I knew? That I'd hate you?" She was still averting his eyes, but it told him that this is exactly what she thought. "My love...I don't care what you are. Even if you're a skunk or raccoon, I'd still love you. It just makes me see that I'm right about you." At that she finally looked into his eyes. "You _are_ magical." Agnarr leaned down to kiss her head.

The wolf smiled at him and wagged her tail happily. She even kissed her back. Well, maybe he'll get used to it eventually. But a kiss from Iduna is still a kiss and he liked it.

For the first time he finally could look at the cell properly. There were claw marks everywhere. As if she wanted to break out before. He looked down at her and saw that she was staring out the little window at the full moon.

"Do you want to go out?" Iduna immediately looked at her pleadingly as if she asked 'can we'? "Uh, we'll have to be very careful then..." In that moment Iduna jumped up, making him fall backwards, since he leaned against her. She was acting like a big puppy, wanting to play. "Okay, let's go."

Agnarr managed to sneak her out of the castle with Mattias help. They went to the forest nearby, actually Iduna wanted him to climb on her back so that they could 'run' together. Then they played. It was kinda like playing with a gigantic puppy. It was really fun.

When it was time to go back she didn't fight it. She carried him back and they sneaked in together. Actually they sneaked all the way back into their bedroom.

Iduna woke up in her bed. Naked. And confused. She tried to remember what happened last night and realized with horror that last night was her wolf night.

So why was she in her and Agnarr bedroom with him sleeping right next to her as if she didn't transform into a monster? She quickly sat up and wrapped the blanket around herself, trying to remember what her wolf side did to end up here. Did it break out of the cell? Did Agnarr see her like this? Just when she wanted to get out of bed, Agnarr's arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. "Don't go." He mumbled sleepily, hugging her tightly.

"Agnarr?" She said, testing if he's really awake, as she had her back on him.

"Yes, my little wolfy?" The queen's heart stopped at the nickname. He knew. And...he was okay with it?

"Did...did you see...?"

"Everything." He replied, giving her another heart attack.

"Then why..."

"Stop right there." He interrupted, hugging her as tight as he could. "I still love you. I'm okay with this. I love your wolf, too. I still want to marry you. Nothing can change my feelings for you, wolfy." To be honest, she couldn't really believe him. How could he still love her? She's a monster. "We went out last night and played in the woods. You're so cute as a wolf, you know. And I understand that you had to keep it a secret."

"Uhm..." Well if he knew that, then..."I-I'm Northuldra, too..."

At the next confession, he just covered her neck and back with kisses. "Okay."

"Y-you're not upset that I lied to you the whole time?"

"No." He said between kisses. "I still love you more than anything in the world. And it won't change. Ever."

Iduna cried at his words. If he knew he'd react like this then she would've told him the truth sooner. But she's been so afraid all these years...Agnarr turned her around so she could face him and his loving eyes made her cry even more. "I love you, too." She sobbed into his chest, while he kept kissing her face to calm her.


End file.
